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Street Talk Newsletter

Remembering the Fallen, While Remembering to Take Care of Yourself

by Sgt. Gary Robertson, St. Louis County Police Department

In 1962, President John F. Kennedy signed a proclamation designating May 15 as Peace Officers Memorial Day. Celebrating the lives of the brothers and sisters who have made the supreme sacrifice has slowly turned into a week-long event, which is now known as National Police Week. This year Police Week will begin on Sunday, May 12 and end on Saturday, May 18. Some of the events during Police Week are the arrival of the Police Unity Tour cycling event, 31st Annual Candlelight Vigil, the somber playing of the Midnight Piper at the Memorial Wall, and the 38th Annual National Peace Officers Memorial Service which is held on the west front of the United States Capital.

In 2019, there are more than 900,000 sworn Law Enforcement Officers honorably serving the United States. Day in and day out, we put on our different uniforms wearing our agency’s badge of honor, wondering what the day will bring us. Will it be the anticipated and hopefully easy tour of duty, or one that puts all of our skills and abilities to the ultimate test? The first recorded in-the-line-of-duty death is from 1786, with one officer being killed in the line of duty that year. Slowly throughout the years, that number has increased and decreased at times. This year we will remember the 158 police officers that died in the line of duty in 2018.

For those of my fellow officers reading this article, no matter how many years of service you have on the job, if you have never attended National Police Week in Washington D.C., you must put it on your to-do list. I know it can be challenging for many of us to get the vacation time approved or find the funding to attend, but I can personally tell you that you will never witness a more sorrowful and yet honorable event in your life. I have personally had the privilege to attend National Police Week five times in my near 20-year career as a Police Officer. Never in my life have I seen such comradery and heartbreak. The first time you approach the Memorial at the pathway entrances, you will observe at the four corners the powerful statutes of lions protecting their cubs. The Memorial features two curving, 304-foot-long blue-gray marble walls. Carved on these walls are the names of more than 21,000 officers who have been killed in the line of duty. Reading these names and thinking of all the lives lost doing the job we so much love quickly becomes overwhelming. And then that moment arrives when you look at the name of that brother or sister that you worked with, served beside, had amazing life changing moments with, you run your fingers over their name carved in the marble. It is then that you know why you completed the journey to the Memorial.

Not only will we never forget the 158 police officers that died in 2018, we must never forget the 165 police officers that died by suicide that same year. The fact that we are dying at our own hands more than in the line of duty is terrifying and unacceptable. It is easy to become overwhelmed with stressors of everyday life, but carrying the burden of all the awful things we witness or personally experience can be toxic. The topic of officer wellness has continued to grow over the last five years, but is proving difficult to keep up. To even lose one brother or sister officer to suicide is one too many. From Day 1 at the police academy, we learned how this is a profession of pride, family, integrity and brotherhood. Families take care of each other. We must remember to take care of each other while at work, just like when we are home. We have to be concerned not only for our own mental, spiritual, social, and physical health, but that of our partners next to us, as well.

There are many resources now available for us to use to get help: your department’s Employee Assistance Program (EAP), National Alliance on Mental Illness-NAMI, Mental Health America of Eastern Missouri, Crisis Intervention Units, organizations like Rebound-911, Chaplains, coworkers, family, and friends. When you feel alone or overwhelmed, you do not have to accept that feeling. I beg you to call for help to any of the above options. They want to hear from you, they want to help you.

As we reflect and keep in our memories all the officers who died in the line of duty or by suicide in past, we must continue answering the call for service. As we never forget those officers lost, we must never forget about taking care of ourselves. Continue to hold strong and protect the thin blue line.

‘The wicked flee when no man pursueth: but the righteous are as bold as a lion.” Proverbs 28:1